Saturday adventure at Franklin’s Crossing

Update, May 22: We had a courageous crowd of more than 75 for our exploration of the Lower Crossing site on Saturday. It was indeed a slog–with a couple folks finding the mud with their backsides–and the vegetation was thick, but everyone found their way out and I think had a good time (certainly Eric and I did). And, to top it off, the world didn’t end last night as scheduled, so we are good to go. Many thanks to all of you who came along.

We are all set for our first-ever exploration (a better word than tour) at Franklin’s Crossing on Saturday morning at 10. For those of you coming along, be ready for a bit of a slog. The river is roaring (hopefully it will recede by Saturday), and spring is in full bloom. Boots and bugs are a priority. This is unimproved ground, so we’ll be moving through whatever is there this time of year.

Bear in mind that this event will be something of a discovery for all of us. Eric and I have only been to the site once, for about 45 minutes. So there’s a certainty that we (and you) will spot some things not noticed before. We will bring the full load of images for people to carry with them.

in the meantime, here’s a great, moody sketch of the crossing of David Russell’s Union brigade in the pre-dawn light of April 29, 1863–a crossing under fire. This is one of FOUR crossings at the site, and we’ll talk about all of them in varying degrees.

Once again, we are grateful for the efforts of Spotsylvania County for organizing access to the site. We also hope you’ll stick around and have lunch at one of the eateries in the Bowman Center.

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2 thoughts on “Saturday adventure at Franklin’s Crossing”

I’ll miss this unfortunately but you know a cool thing to do would be for you to carry a GPS with the track feature turned on and then after the foray… post the map with track and notes.. on it…. perhaps overlaid with a historical map, eh?

“Saturday morning [May 2], I had hardly finished my breakfast when the order to move came; and it was none too soon , for my own tent had been pitched in range between the rebel batteries and our pontoons and although protected by the sharp crest of a hill, the shells and shot came whistling over from both directions in a perfect shower – several of the shells bursting directly over my head. One of the shells struck one of the pontoon boats, which immediately sank like a stone, and a force of the engineer corps were immediately employed in replacing it. Soon after a solid shot plunged through the planking. Several shells burst over and on either side of the bridge while the troops were hurrying over. The entire division thus crossed, while our brigade picket lines steadily held the front, terribly exposed to cross fire from both sides”